Wow! DD went to the mailbox, and came back with yesterday's mail. Here's what I got this time;

A $5.00 Starbucks gift card for filling out a survey. This is a nice find, as there is a Starbucks at work. I might sell it on E-Bay and get the $$ for it. What to do?

A free sample of Dove deodorant. I figure it's about .50 worth, and it smells really nice. Yay!

A free sample of "Move Free" for joint pain. I originally intended this for my dad, but my fingers have been stiff lately on my left hand. I'm going to give it a try and see how things go.

So, with the deodorant and the dishwasher samples, I can add .70 to my $20.00 challenge money. Not sure what to do with the Starbucks card yet, and I don't know how much "Move Free" costs.

I'm eating a late lunch, and added the dinner rolls from last night's dinner to my plate. Amount saved - about .20 not thrown away. Hey, every little bit helps.

New total - $29.68

EDITED TO ADD - Flash just mentioned to me that an 80 count package of Move Free was $30.00 on sale, so I'm going to add the extra amount to my total. This free sample has 28 tablets, so the extra $10.50 is a nice savings. I hope I notice a difference in my fingers.

New total, again - $40.18

Thank you Flash.

I've been sending for free samples lately, and some of them are starting to come in the mail. Good times. It really is fun to check the mail and see what has come. I got some free dishwasher detergent, and we used it yesterday. Good stuff, and you can't beat the price! I figure it saved us about .20 for both of them. I've found that we really need to use very little in the dishwasher. I used to fill the cup, just because it seemed like the thing to do. Now I use a couple of teaspoonsfull, at the most.

I got a free "Chew-Lotta" dog bone yesterday in the mail. The dog is happily munching on that. I'm not going to count the cost of that in with the challenge, because I wouldn't have normally bought it.

I'm off to find out what coupons I can dig up to use at the grocery store. Not something I would normally do lately, but the $20 challenge has inspired me to add to the total.

I was just looking over my last entry in this blog, and thinking about what to do next. After my E-Bay auctions end tomorrow and I deposit that money, I'll have over $50.00 in the $20.00 fund.

Not bad, but now what?

If I was the risk-taker type, I would blow it all on lottery tickets.

If I was the Tightwad Gazette lady, I would invest it in a sewing machine or a rototiller or something and make my fortune. The problem is, I would probably sew my thumb to my first project, so that's not good. Also, it's winter, and I don't know how to run a rototiller.

So, now what? Shifty pyramid scheme? No, that's not legal. Tupperware? Forget it!

I guess for now, I'll stick to selling toys and books. When I come up with a brilliant $50.00 idea, you'll be the first to know.

Today I was able to work a little longer than expected. I'm going to add that amount to the challenge money. I wouldn't have ordinarily volunteered to stay past my scheduled shift, but I thought about the $20 challenge and it motivated me to add that extra money to my fund.

I found three pennies in the cafeteria LOL.

So... about $10.50 extra for staying, minus .80 for a snack to keep me going, plus .03 (LOL) comes out to $9.73 to add to the unlucky $13.13 - that makes $22.86.

I sold one more book;

Bird By Bird for $5.92 profit

Drumroll please

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$28.78!

That actually seems kind of pitiful, now that I look at it. My auctions end tomorrow and the total is just under $30.00, so that should give me a pretty good boost.

I just stumbled across this contest that Coca Cola is doing now through March 15th. A friend mentioned this site, so I thought I would check it out. I have won twice! Each win is worth five free two liter bottles of any Coke product! Here is the link to the web site;

http://www.olympics.coke.com

You don't need to buy the products - they will e-mail you free codes with which to play with. You can enter three times each day. The first day I tried I didn't win, but last night I won twice in a row! The participating products are all kinds of Coke, Dasani, Minute Maid Refreshment, Minute Maid Lite, and Nestea Cool.

Here's how to do it. Go to the Coke website and click on the Enter Codes link. You'll need to register on the site, but you only have to do that once. Then look for a graphic at the bottom of the page that says "Where's my code?" Click on that link and after entering a security code, you will be emailed a free code. If you copy and paste the code from the e-mail to the contest site, you need to remove the two spaces in the code and add the last two code numbers. Any problems or questions, I'll be happy to help.

Good luck!


I'm going to send for as many free samples as possible. The things that we make use of, I will record the money that wasn't spent towards the $20 challenge. When I actually receive these free coupons I'll record the savings for pop. My husband can't do without his soda, and it will be nice to get this freebie for him.

I just took a look at my auctions on E-Bay, and they're going pretty well!

toy - $14.00
toy - $ 3.75
book- $ 4.25
book- no bids
toy - no bids

These end Sunday, and I'll list some more items I have that are ready to go. I have my eye on some more toys that seem to be doing well - I think I should go and buy them so I have them on hand.

One thing I've noticed about this whole $20 challenge thing so far is that my way of thinking is starting to change. Instead of feeling envious when I see others in the cafeteria eating lunches they have bought while I munch on my leftovers from home, I feel good about my choices. I've started to calculate how long I would have to work to pay for that salad, pizza, and soda (or whatever) and it just doesn't make good financial sense to purchase overpriced food to eat at work, then have to work longer to pay for it.

I intend to use some of my challenge money to purchase insulating foam for the pipes in the basement. Shame on me for not doing this sooner! But I didn't, and that is one of my small goals for next week. I'll compare last year's bills with this year's to try and see how much this saves each month.

More later when I have time...

I've been working and haven't been around to post for a few days. This job is new (about a month) and it is fun but also challenging.

Anyhow, three more books have sold! They are;

Parenting In the Pew for $6.47 profit
The Heaven Tree Trilogy for $3.36 profit
Pregnancy Fitness for $2.90 profit

So, that brings my total up to $29.75 for the $20 challenge. I went to the library today and spent $7.00 on more books. I also went earlier in the week and spent another $2.50. Also, I found some little toys that I think will sell well, and they cost $7.52 - I'm now back down to $12.73 for now.

I did collect and turn in .40 worth of bottles.

$13.13 is sort of an unlucky number, isn't it?

I seen to take one step forward and two steps back with this challenge! I'm trying to start with just $20.00, invest it, and make it grow. It seems like I'm moving more slowly than others. Now that I have more things to sell, that will hopefully change in March.

I listed some books for sale and a couple have already sold. To help me remember, they are;

Hoot - $3.45 to add to my funds

The Wall Jumper - $3.78 to add

I take the amount they sold for and subtract commision and shipping costs. The padded envelopes cost me nothing; I got some freebies in the mail and saved the envies. I've been getting tons of bubble wrap and foam peanuts from work for E-Bay, and will also keep an eye out for more of the padded mailing envelopes. I work today and the post office is right near, so the cost for gas won't be any extra.

So far in my $20 challenge account I have $17.02 and am still in the red. I'm going to list some things on E-Bay tomorrow and am hoping a couple of the books I bought will do well. I figure that this month will be about establishing myself and I won't be in the green until March.

On the way home from work I went to the Salvation Army to poke around. I bought 19 books to sell online. They cost me $6.71 with tax. The total amount I have now for the $20 challenge is $9.79 but hopefully some books will start to sell in the days to come. I'm looking forward to watching my total go up instead of down!

I got a paycheck today but it was short by a week (I get paid every other week.) I hope I don't have to wait another two weeks to get the money that's due to me.

I'm eating M&M's and the puppy is bugging me. I guess it's time to put them away for now.

I went to the library yesterday and found some books to sell. I bought four out of my $20 budget, for a total cost of $3.50 - I'm now in the red! One of the books will be listed on E-Bay this Sunday. I'm also going to hit the Salvation Army to find things to sell.

Total so far is $16.50 and I need to catch up. I'm starting late compared to others.

I went to Target yesterday and found some great deals on Valentine items for next year. Nick is sick and I've been home with him.

I've been away from this forum for a long time! When I finally did log on tonight, the concept of the $20 challenge interested me right from the start. I'm not sure what the rules are, or if there are any rules for that matter. So, I'll do what works for me and go from there.

So far I have - you guessed it - $20 to start with. My goal will be to keep the original $20 intact, and use all profits to pay towards a specific bill at the end of each month. Make sense? We'll figure it out together in the year to come...

OK - (rolls up sleeves) off we go!